The World Next Week

The world awaits the results of the close U.S. presidential election, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is scheduled to select a new director general, and Myanmar holds fraught elections.

The U.S. presidential election pitting incumbent Donald J. Trump against former Vice President Joe Biden is finally here. In this special episode of The World Next Week, James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon unpack what’s at stake in this vote, what could happen on Election Day, and when the world might know the results.

The World Health Summit 2020 takes place virtually, Chileans vote in a constitutional referendum amid protests, and Tanzania holds a general election.

The U.S. Senate votes on a COVID-19 relief bill; Bolivians head to the polls for a twice-postponed general election; and New Zealand, considered to have one of the most successful pandemic responses, also holds a general election.

Taiwan celebrates National Day, North Korea marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party with a military parade, and the United Kingdom and European Union face another crucial Brexit deadline.

On this special episode of The World Next Week, James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon are joined by Ivo H. Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Dina Smeltz, senior fellow for public opinion and foreign policy, to discuss the Chicago Council’s annual survey of American attitudes toward foreign policy. This year’s survey, which can be found on the Chicago Council’s website, is entitled “Divided We Stand.”

European leaders hold a summit on tensions between Greece and Turkey in the Mediterranean, Italians prepare to head to the polls for a national referendum and regional elections, and the sports world stages major events under unusual circumstances.

The seventy-fifth UN General Assembly kicks off virtually, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and the European Union and China hold a scaled-down summit in Leipzig, Germany.

Americans enter the final two-month stretch of the presidential campaign, the United States moves to strengthen economic ties to Taiwan, and Japan begins its search for a new prime minister.

Louisianans and Texans cope with Hurricane Laura as they mark fifteen years since Hurricane Katrina, the World Trade Organization’s director-general, Roberto Azevedo, departs amid uncertainty over the body’s future, and athlete boycotts spur a new reckoning over U.S. police brutality.